Wednesday, November 23, 2016

I will not be reviewing any more plays through the rest of
2016 in order to mourn the loss of my dear husband, Edwin (Ed) Brent Jones, who
died Sunday, November 20, 2016, after a brave, hard-fought, seven-year battle
with colorectal cancer.In Jewish
tradition, I will take the next month to pause normal activity and to
concentrate on my loss of my lover, best friend, and life companion.

But come 2017, I will be ready to go full-steam ahead.And I will still be posting the “2016 Eddys”
for Top Ten Plays and Musicals (but just minus anything opening Nov. 20-December
31).

Here is the announcement I published to friends and family
this past Monday:

Dear Friends:

With incredibly sad
heart and near-broken spirit, I am writing to tell you that Ed's seven year
battle is over. He died quickly and without pain in the middle of
Saturday night -- first patting the space next to him for me to come sit down
beside him, then grabbing my hand, and then keeling forward and passing from
the life he lived so fully.

He lived the ten weeks
he was on hospice like he did the two-and-a-half years he was on Stage 4
chemotherapy treatments like he did the seven years, one week after his
traumatic operation for colorectal cancer -- to the fullest. In these
past ten weeks of at-home hospice, we had nine wonderful Shabbat dinners on
Friday nights with our six kids, many of their friends, and some of our
closest, nearby friends. Ed went, usually in wheel chair and with
portable oxygen tank, to twenty-four plays and three full operas while on hospice
care -- something our hospice medical personnel and their colleagues had never
before seen. And best yet, he and I got to spend those final weeks just
being close to each other as more and more, every small task (like swallowing a
bite of pureed food) was a major effort that my hero did with no complaint but
lots of effort.

Because this is
Thanksgiving week in the U.S., we are modifying how normally we might have
scheduled Ed's service and burial. Tomorrow, November 22, we will hold a
private, graveside service to follow the Jewish tradition of placing his body
at its resting spot within a couple days of his dying. On Sunday,
December 4, 6:30 p.m., we will hold a memorial service at Congregation Beth Am,
26790 Arastradero Road, Los Altos Hills; and I hope that all of you who are
local will be able to attend. Our beloved Rabbi Janet Marder, who married
us twice (once in 2005, strictly religious, and then in 2008,
legally) will officiate. There will be a social gathering at the
synagogue following the service.

Ed will live forever
on in my life and in many of yours in the stories we tell, the laughter we
share of memories, and the courage he had to relish every moment of life G-d
granted him. May those memories comfort us all now and in the days,
months, and years to come.

Saturday, November 19, 2016

When a gloriously played overture pours forth hit after hit right
out of the Great American Songbook, there is no doubt that the musical to
follow is likely to be an evening to be savored.If the musical is one that has been revived
on Broadway four times since its 1951 debut, has won multiple Tonys in both the
premiere and subsequent outings, is now in its fifth national tour, and
continues to grace stages at every level many times each year, then
anticipation is even higher for a great evening with an old friend.The fact that the current touring show
landing at SHN’s Golden Gate Theatre comes with a spectacularly stellar cast in
an immensely impressive production means that Richard Rodgers’ (music) and
Oscar Hammerstein II’s (lyrics and book)
The King and I is a sure-fire guarantee to please both the first-timer and
the aficionado of the famed pair’s fifth, joint creation.

Based on a novel (Margaret Landon’s Anna and the King) that finds its roots in the actual King Mongkut,
ruler of Siam 1861-1868, and in the British governess, Anna Leonowens, whom he
hires to westernize his royal children, The
King and I finds some truth in its story how the King is desperately trying
to keep his country from falling under the rule of European powers as are many
of his neighboring nations.History
shows that the actual king in fact was able to keep tiny Siam independent
through his efforts.Other aspects of
the story Mr. Hammerstein pens are rooted in the historical occurrences,
including the fact that the first Anna did live in the palace grounds until a
brick house was built nearby for her.Whether that Anna put up quite the fuss to get her own house that
Hammerstein makes so central in the telling of his Anna is doubtful – a battle
of wills between the King and the governess that begins almost as soon as she
steps off the boat and lets the awaiting Kralahome (the King’s prime minister) know
in no uncertain terms that she expects that contract promise to be fulfilled.

As Anna, Laura Michelle Kelly displays from the get-go upon
arriving in Siam her fiery defiance with a pointing finger, stern looks, and
firm vocals -- all aimed at the King’s shocked emissary (Brian Rivera).This almost cocky confidence leads her to
assert her demands for a private, brick house time and again, even to the King
himself. But this same Anna is also the one
that melts time and again to show another side of herself, softening her
stance, demeanor, and tone -- first when meeting some of the King’s sixty-seven
children and later as her liking and affection for the King himself clearly increases.Director Bartlett Sher clearly highlights
these contrasting aspects of Anna throughout this production – a decision that provides
much fun, nuance, and intrigue in the blossoming relationship between the King
and the Governess.(However, one has to
doubt if Mr. Hammerstein’s original storyline would have seen this English
woman take the same stance if the royal employer she faced were European versus
Asian – one troubling aspect of the story that a modern audience member must
gulp a bit in order to accept.)

When her desired house is not first and foremost in her
mind, Anna exudes a love and excitement for the adventure she has set upon with
her young son, Louis (Graham Montgomery).Ms. Kelley’s first sung words spill out with crystal-clear chirpiness as
she and Louis duet in “I Whistle a Happy Tune.”When she fondly reminisces of her late husband, Tom, and then calls out in
song to say, “Hello, Young Lovers” (“whoever you are”), she so easily allows
each note to float at a pace and with such distinctive singularity that as a
listener, there is an ability to grab hold and relish each rich, beautiful syllable.And just as wonderful, while she sings, her broad
smile reaches out into the outer and upper regions of the theatre – almost as
if she were actually looking at and smiling at every individual there.Ms. Kelley becomes an Anna to deservedly join
as an equal in a long line of all the famous ones before her (Gertrude
Lawrence, Eileen Brennan, Maureen McGovern, Angela Lansbury, and many more
including most recently, Tony-winning Kelli O’Hara).

Laura Michelle Kelly & Jose Llana

One of her best moments is not when she is singing but when
she allows her total comedic side to shine as the King gets her finally to
agree never to have her head any higher than his royal noggin and then proceeds
to lower himself position by position until finally prostrate on the
floor.Anna, in her enormously hooped
skirt, becomes a mixture of Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett in her exaggerated
twists and flops, grimaces and grins, as she makes sure her head in fact does
not eclipse his.

Her royal partner in this charade of wills is Jose Llana,
who also played the King in the latest Broadway revival.Mr. Llana is richly and powerfully exact and
expressive in song (as in “A Puzzlement”).But when his King speaks or sings, Mr. Llana’s ever-moving hands and
eyebrows say as much or more as anything that comes out of his mouth.This King has his own stubborn streak that
fully matches Anna’s; but he also has, like she, his own soft and humor-loving
side.This is particularly true when his
children parade in front of him in the eye-catching, warm-hearted, and funny
“The March of the Siamese Children” (one of several masterful sets
choreographed by Christopher Gattelli).

Equal impressiveness of voice and acting come from a number
of other key contributors.Lady Thiang, the
head wife that so deeply loves her kingly husband (even with all his faults that
she clearly acknowledges), delivers one of the evening’s highlights with
“Something Wonderful.”Joan Almedilla
explains to Anna her love for her King/husband with a voice that pleads in tone
for Anna’s understanding while it also teaches what true love really
means.With each ensuing stanza, a climatic
intensity slowly approaches note by note, totally revealing the depth of her
feelings for her husband.

Love, in this case a forbidden one, is also the focus of
relationship between Tuptim, the King’s newest wife and a ‘gift’ from the
Burmese king, and the Burmese envoy and student who brings her to Siam, Lun
Tha.Manna Nichols and Kavin Panmeechao
beautifully blend their voices in notes clearly interlocked in love as they
sing “We Kiss in a Shadow,” with Ms. Nichols reaching effortlessly to secure emotion-driven,
tonal heights.The two once again draw
huge audience praise as they sing of their doomed, not-to-be union: “In these
dreams, I’ve loved you so that by now I think ... I will love being loved by
you” (“I Have Dreamed”).

The Cast of "The King and I"

And there is so much more that could be said in praise of
this magnificent musical and production.The totally charming “Getting to Know You” featuring Anna, the royal
children and the wives; the visually, culturally, and musically show-stopper
ballet, “The Small House of Uncle Thomas” narrated by Tuptim and presented by a
host of royal singers and dancers; and of course the much-anticipated, fully appreciated
“Shall We Dance?” where Anna teaches the King to waltz as they both step close
to mutually expressed love – These are all favorite moments that returnees cannot
help but savor and first-timers will never forget.

Much of the evening’s impact also comes from a production
team that has brought the awe and quality of New York’s Great White Way to
Market Street’s Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco.From the opening moments when a huge
sea-faring boat emerges to dock in a bustling, red-sky Siam harbor, the sets
designed by Michael Yeargan create an exotic set of scenes.His royal palace scenes majestically rise and
shift with tall, oriental columns that dance in a slow ballet across the wide
stage.Dotting the scenes with an array
of color and with an enchanting mixture of East and West are the costumes of
Catherine Uber.Donald Holder’s lighting
and Scott Lehrer’s sound designs further suggest a faraway dreamland of the
foreign but familiar.Bringing all the
atmospheric magic together is the underlying beauty of the mixed local and
touring orchestra, conducted by Gerald Steichen who clearly knows how to take a
Richard Rodgers score and ensure it both recalls what we fondly remember as
well as makes it all sound once again fresh and exciting.

And now this reviewer must confess:I love Rogers and Hammerstein musicals -- each
and all of them.I always enter with
both anticipation and with dread, hoping for another evening of being swept
away in the well-loved music and story and yet afraid that my expectations are
raised so high that disappointment is assured.With the current SHN presentation of the touring The King and I, I walked away elated with not the slightest bit of
regret.

Rating: 5 E

The King and I continues
through December 11, 2016, at SHN’s Golden Gate Theatre, 1 Taylor Street, San
Francisco.Tickets are available at Tickets are available at https://www.shnsf.com.

For many in the San Jose audience, unease, shock, disillusionment,
and even fear were their states of mind and psyche as they entered the Center
for the Performing Arts less than twenty-four hours after the surprising
presidential election results had become clear.But it did not take long for an old friend -- a trusted friend -- to
help them forget their present worries and instead to focus on a story full of
songs that most know every word and note by heart.What better time for The Sound of Music to make its way into as a part of the current
Broadway San Jose season.Certainly for
many in the audience, this final collaboration between Richard Rodgers (music)
and Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics) is as familiar as “do re me” and is at the
top of their list of “my favorite things.”

But for all those who
mostly grew up watching time and again Julie Andrews in the 1965 film version,
many pleasant surprises are in store as they watch unfold before them the story
of the nun postulant, Maria Rainer, who becomes nanny and ultimately mother of
the seven von Trapp children.Songs
appear in a different order, often sung by different people, in the stage
version that took Broadway and ultimately the world by storm in 1959.There appears a couple of songs that most
will not recognize: “How Can Love Survive” and “No Way to Stop It,” both
featuring Captain von Trapp’s aristocratic fiancé, Elsa (Teri Hansen), and his
funny and free-loading friend, Max (Merwin Foard).Missing on the stage from the film version is
Maria’s “I Have Confidence,” but this newest touring version has included the
Maria/Captain duet “Something Good” that was not in the original stage musical
but was a part of the 1965 film.

Kerstin Anderson

But maybe the best difference in this latest touring version
is Maria herself.The director Jack
O’Brien searched the nation, auditioning hundreds of potential Marias before
settling on a current student at New York’s Pace University, Kerstin
Anderson.This Maria is barely older in
appearance or attributes than the oldest von Trapp daughter, Liesl, rather than
the more mature version of Julie Andrews, Mary Martin, or the typical scores
who have followed them on stages everywhere.Ms. Anderson is a bit awkward and clumsy; sometimes over-the-top
enthusiastic; quick to humble in embarrassment, and a lot wide-eyed, fearless,
and physically rambunctious in ways that are delightful, refreshing, and energizing.There is a sense of being still a kid
herself, especially in the beginning of the play; and even as she falls in love
with the Captain, it really feels as if this is a teenager at heart falling
head over heels for the first time.

But most importantly, this Maria can sing.Wow, can she sing!As soon as the much-anticipated, first notes
of the musical’s title song spring forth, we hear a voice as clear and crisp as
the mountain air where she has escaped the abbey for an afternoon’s hike.As she proceeds to romp one by one through
audience favorites like “Do, Re, Me,” “My Favorite Things,” or “The Lonely
Goatherd” (often accompanied by others like one or all of the children or the
Mother Abbess), Ms. Anderson sings with effervescence, with a feeling of
spontaneity, and with an electric energy that sparkles but never
over-shocks.She also jumps, rolls,
dances, and slides all over the stage with contagious happiness and zest for
life; but she always has both feet solid on the ground when the moment calls
for a maturity and sagacity many her age and big-stage experience might not yet
be able to garner.

And everywhere around her on the stage -- from the youngest
cast member (six-year-old Anika Lore Hatch as Gretl) to those much older -- are
voices and personalities that equally excel and sell their cherished
characters.Melody Betts is particularly
a standout as the Mother Abbess.The
statuesque posture, folded arms, and stern-face whose eyes betray with their
softness of a loving and sympathetic heart brings the required dignity for the
head of the nunnery.However, this
Mother Abbess stuns both Maria and the audience when she totally lets loose
with girl-like delight as she recalls with Maria a childhood favorite song (“My
Favorite Things”).When later she sends
away from the abbey a Maria scared to face the love she has for Captain von
Trapp, her “Climb Every Mountain” begins with resonate reflection and parent-like
advice in its tone, building to a climax that shakes the rafters with a
delivery that is singular and unique but entirely captivating in sound.

Ben Davis

Excellent also in the ability to provide his individual
flair to songs that we have heard other, more famous people sing over and over
again is Ben Davis as Captain von Trapp.His deep baritone moves hearts and brings tears when he reminds us of
the courage it sometimes takes to face at all odds hate, xenophobia, and
possible persecution as he sings the Austrian homeland folk song “Edelweiss” in
the face of the German Nazi’s ready to cart him away.But he also lets his earlier militaristic
manner of naval whistles used to march his children before him to be inspected
give way to a softer, gentler side that comes out in beautiful smoothness in a
reprise with the children of “The Sound of Music” and that romances Maria in
“Something Good” where his newly discovered love shines through in a powerful
voice that never pushes but flows with palpable strength.

Paige Silvester & Austin Colby

With much fun in teasing and tempting each other, the teen
about to become a woman, Liesl (Paige Silvester) and her desired-boyfriend (but
soon to become a Nazi), Rolf (Austin Colby), triumph in “Sixteen Going on
Seventeen,” a number thoroughly enjoyable in both delivered vocals and
choreography.The coy manners they use
to approach, back off, and then finally connect in a kiss are perfectly
directed and enacted, all enhanced by singing voices that shudder and shimmer with
the excitement of their young love.

Whether popping up and down like jumping
jacks in “Do, Re, Mi,” reenacting on Maria’s bed the story of “The Lonely
Goatherd,” or forming a human cookoo clock while singing “So Long, Farewell,”
these kids sing, dance, and act with full ebullience and excitement that can do
nothing but bring full smiles to everyone watching.Their voices individually ring with striking
clarity that speaks of maturity beyond their years and yet also with the fun
and freshness appropriate for each of their ages.

The von Trapp Children with Maria

Like the scenes we all remember from the Oscar-winning
movie, every time the seven children take the stage, they pretty much steal the
show.Whether popping up and down like
jumping jacks in “Do, Re, Mi,” reenacting on Maria’s bed the story of “The
Lonely Goatherd,” or forming a human cookoo clock while singing “So Long,
Farewell,” these kids sing, dance, and act with full ebullience and excitement
that can do nothing but bring full smiles to everyone watching.Their voices individually ring with striking
clarity that speaks of maturity beyond their years and yet also with the fun
and freshness appropriate for each of their ages.

The touring sets of Douglas W. Schmidt do the best they can
to evoke the beauty and vastness of the background Alps, the solemn and holy
serenity of the darkened abbey, and the light airiness of the von Trapp mansion
with its high windows.However, it is
the lighting design of Natasha Katz that particularly is noteworthy with its glorious
colors, subtle nuances, and scene-setting moods.Jane Greenwood’s costumes also add much
color, humor, time/geography definition, and beauty to the staging.Jay Alger conducts everyone’s favorite score
that is nobly, elegantly, and gleefully played by seventeen orchestra members.

By the way, if anyone regrets that a much-beloved song has
come and gone too soon, then that person should take heart.There are no less than eight reprises in this
staged version -- some short, some the entire song again – which some patrons may
welcome with eager applause but which others may find themselves looking mildly
annoyed at their watches.

The story of a governess who arrives in a home of seven
children; wins them over with her singing, spirit, and sincerity; discovers
love with the widowed father to answer the question should she be a nun or not,
and then escapes the invading Nazis with her new family from their native
Austria – the story known so well by so many still never fails to thrill and
inspire almost sixty years after its Great White Way premiere.That is doubly true when an audience once
again is rewarded with a Sound of Music so
well-cast, superbly directed, and creatively produced as can now be seen at
Broadway San Jose.

Rating: 4 E

The Sound of Music closes
November 13, 2016 at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, 255 South
Almaden Boulevard, San Jose.Tickets are
available online at http://broadwaysanjose.com.

San Francisco is so lucky to have a theatre company like 42nd
Street Moon whose key mission is to revive forgotten, rarely-if-ever-performed
musicals – some from a lifetime or two ago, some from as late the 1960s.Audiences walk into the Eureka Theatre ready
to relive a different era, to hum along to once-familiar tunes, and to discover
some hidden gem never seen or heard previously.And the loyal attendees at the Moon also understand that there are times
when a production, no matter how well staged, tends to prove why the musical
has not been oft re-produced in the decades since its initial debut.

The current offering at 42nd Street Moon is an
example of such a musical -- one that is entertaining enough with its delightful
production elements and with a couple of outstanding stars among its enthusiastic
cast of performers but one that never quite conquers the weaknesses inherent in
its original creation. The meticulous
details crammed into Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved and wildly popular
stories about Sherlock Holmes become a bit tedious, boring, and even confusing
when adapted by Jerome Coopersmith for the stage in the 1965 musical, Baker Street.And, while there are a couple of notable
exceptions, most of the music by Marlon Grudeff and Raymond Jessel is nothing
that will be recalled in the shower the next day.Baker
Street, as staged by 42nd Street Moon, is a pleasant way to
spend a couple of hours; but the company has habitually mounted other, more
memorable and worthy revivals in its long relationship with the Great American
Musical.

Set in 1897 London during the Diamond Jubilee of Queen
Victoria, Baker Street is loosely
based on Sir Doyle’s “A Scandal in Bohemia.”The socially awkward, famed detective Sherlock Holmes is a genius of
sorts who sees mystery-breaking clues where others only see a speck of mud or a
random smudge.He is once again pitted
against his archenemy, Professor Moriarty, and aided by his loyal and outwardly
amiable sidekick, Mr. Watson, to solve a major crime in the making.Along the way, attempts on his life come
dangerously close to eliminating the serious-minded sleuth while a beautiful
American actress comes even closer to stealing his reluctant heart.Twists and turns in the plot; clever disguises
of wigs, wraps, and make-up; and many explanations by Holmes of how he figures
out who is the unseen person coming up the stairs or where a stranger was born are
all included in the tale that unfolds before us.And in this telling, there is very much a
feeling of a classic American melodrama (but set in England) with its stock
characters of the hero, the damsel in distress, the romantic element between
the two, and of course, the nasty villain.

One of the best elements in the Moon’s version of this
Sherlock Holmes story is the backdrop of projections that show the illustrated
pages from Watson’s journal – the diary into which we see the good doctor
documenting the details of the story as it unfolds around him.Amy O’Hanlon has created period-perfect illustrations
of the scenes that fill a giant book’s pages across the back wall of the
stage.Joined with the scenic, lighting,
and projection designs of Kevin August Landesman, we see one of Sir Conan
Doyle’s stories come to three-dimensional life as properties to enhance the
beautifully drawn pages emerge from the dark to become set elements on the
stage.The storybook aspects are
cleverly supported by Cindy Goldfield’s directorial decision to use actors in
the background to produce in melodrama fashion such sound effects as horse
trots on cobblestone or ferocious waves on the coast of Dover.

As the chipper, curious narrator of our story, Dr. Watson,
Dan Seda is effusive in emotion, eager for chitchat, and enthusiastic for all
those in a skirt – all in direct contrast with his 221-B Baker Street flat
mate, Sherlock Holmes. When expressing
himself in song (as in “A Married Man”), Mr. Seda sings with clear purpose and
a voice bearing a pleasant edge and crisp tones.

The Yin to Watson’s Yang is of course the great detective
himself, Sherlock Holmes, and Michael Monagle displays fully the many contrasts
in not only his much taller, more posture-perfect stature than the shorter,
easy-going Watson but also in his air of being somewhat distant and detached
from those around him.His Sherlock
sings in half song/speech style in the opening “It’s Simple” (much akin to the
1964 Professor Higgens of My Fair Lady)
and speaks with a highly affected, back-of-the-throat tone that frankly sounds
more manufactured than natural.When he
does break into fuller song (“Cold Clear Night”), the result is passable but
not up to par with the vocals of his fellow cast members.

Sherlock is handed an incredibly complex script at times,
full of observations, clues, and minutiae that are often rattled off with just
the right matter-of-fact, ‘but-of-course’ manner by Mr. Monagle.The issue is that sometimes the actor (at
least in the performance I attended) slightly stumbled or had a slight,
uncalled-for pause as he faithfully tried to spill out the many, many words –
always recovering nicely but doing so too often not to notice.All in all, this Sherlock has the outward look
and feel of the great Holmes but does not seem fully natural to the core in the
role.

Michael Monagle & Abby Haug

Fortunately, along with Dr. Watson, others in the cast are a
proper fit for their characters.At the
top of this list is Abby Haug as Irene Adler, the visiting American actress who
becomes a willing assistant in helping Sherlock solve his mystery and falls in
love with him along the way.The best
songs of the musical are given to Irene; and Ms. Haug delivers them with a
fresh, lyrical voice that rings forth with personality-plus built in.Her flexibility of delivery is tested and
proven exceptional in the deliciously amusing number “Letters,” where she takes
on the voices of various admirers as she sings their written epistles to her –
all done with great tongue-in-cheek and taunting as she strives to get
Sherlock’s goat while also hopefully making him a bit jealous.Later, when singing “I’d Do It Again,” Irene sings with a voice
that swoops and swings in wonderful rolls of the scales, with the ability to
bring the Gay 90s stage feeling into her vocals in authentic and believable
manner.

Andrew Mondello (center, as Wiggins) & The Irregulars

Another songster with penetrating tones that have big grins,
quick wit, and a bit of devilishness all built into the delivery is Andrew
Mondello as Wiggins.This ruffian of the streets, along with his
gang of four, runs interference and carries out needed sleuthing assignments
for his boss, Sherlock himself.My Fair Lady (which premiered in 1964 a
year before Baker Street took to the
stage) is once again recalled as the numbers that Wiggins and his “Irregulars”
deliver in choreographic style and hilarious song look and sound a lot like
those of Alfred P. Doolittle and his Cockney pals.In “Leave It to Us, Guv” and “Roof
Space/Sixty Long Years,” Wiggins and the Irregulars (Tobiah Richkind,
Alison Quin, Stephen Vaught and Jesse Cortez) sing with spunk and pizzazz and
clown around in well-delivered choreography (designed and directed by Cindy
Goldfield), generating a lot of energy for the show as well as chuckles from
the appreciating audience.

There is not a lot of surprise in Baker Street.We all know the master detective of
all times will solve the mysteries placed before him and save the free world
once again from evil.But in 42nd
Street Moon’s Baker Street, there are
the required laughs and some mild intrigue, a number of fun diversions, and a
bevy of stock characters of yesteryear’s London to entertain us and to hold our
attention.The fact that the script gets
a bit bogged down in too many details and wordy sentences at times, that the
songs are for the most part not memorable, and that the lead character is a bit
weaker than the rest of the overall excellent cast in the end does not mean
that a good time will not be had by all – especially all those Moon fans who
thrive on seeing yet another bygone musical rarely seen on other stages.

Rating: 3 E

Baker Street
continues for 42nd Street Moon through November 20, 2016 at the
Eureka Theatre, 215
Jackson Street, San Francisco.Tickets
are available at http://www.42ndstmoon.org or by calling the box office at
415-255-8207.

For a while, we forget the family’s eventual
demise as we settle down to watch The
Diary of Anne Frank emerge from the pages on which the Anne in front of us
diligently writes. Palo Alto Players
presents the 1955 Pulitzer Prize for Drama by Frances Goodrich and Albert
Hackett -- further adapted in 1977 after more of Anne’s original diary was
published by Wendy Kesselman -- in a superbly directed production and with an
ensemble of actors who pull us into their individual and collective stories in
ways that shake us to our very core.

Nineteen years and still running on both Broadway and in
Tokyo.Eighteen years in the West End of
London and sixteen years in Hamburg, Germany.Extended runs and national tours on every continent except
Antarctica.And now, yet another touring
production arrives in San Francisco’s Orpheum Theatre for a two-month
stand.Is there any doubt that Disney’s The Lion King – the most profitable
musical ever – still reigns supreme and may hang onto its royal throne for as
long or longer than Queen Elizabeth II herself?

No matter how many times I or probably anyone has seen a
past production, who can deny having goose bumps, big smiles, and maybe even a
tear or two as the glorious animals arrive after the multi-colored mandrill
Rafiki belts – yea blasts – her now famous “Nants ingonyama hagithi Baha”?First two towering, graceful giraffes arrive
on stage as two actors almost float in unison on their stilted legs.Then the first of the evening’s many gazelles
leap gracefully across the staged savannah – two people sending the jumping
animals forward via Julie Taymor’s and Michael Curry’s celebrated puppets.Finally, the huge spectacle we have all been
awaiting starts down the theatre’s main aisles. A mammoth-sized elephant, a pair of zebra, and
other once-inhabitants of Noah’s ark lumber to the stage while birds fly over
audience heads as we all thrill to the familiar, harmonic chords and words of
“The Circle of Life.”

Yes, SHN has once again a packed house and a sure-fire winner.The music and lyrics of Elton John and Tim
Rice (along with sorted others) and the book of Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi
fill the Orpheum Theatre with a musical that continues to inspire through its
visual grandeur, to entertain through its humor (mostly with lines we can all
quote), and to send chills through its grand and haunting melodies.The
Lion King comes to San Francisco, potentially generating as much awe as its
first arrival many years ago -- both for returnees like myself as well as the
many younger, first-timers with glued eyes bigger than saucers,

The now-familiar story includes thematic strands of honoring
and protecting family and community bonds, of betrayal and murder as well as
lies and unwarranted guilt, of environmental disaster brought on by ruling
neglect, of readying the younger generation for an inevitable future time of
being in charge, and of a son who must leave home in order to grow to be the
man his father and greater clan need him to be.The telling is peppered in full Disney style with lots of one-liners
that adults enjoy even more than the kids; with quirky sorts who join up with
the story’s hero to be both lovable and hilarious sidekicks and loyal pals; and
with visuals that are high-color, fantastical, and eye-popping.

Nia Holloway as Nala & the Lionesses

And then there is the aforementioned puppetry mastery as
well as Tony-winning masks and costumes of Taymor and Curry.Lion heads rise high above the actors below,
only to swoop at neck’s bending to cover a painted human face and to allow the
animal side fully to take over.Animals
are sometimes full-size puppets walking alongside their background manipulators;
other times they come to life mostly hiding the actors with animal and human
melting into one beautiful being of the wild.Masks large and larger announce an approaching wildebeest stampede. Birds of beauty, prey, and scavenger fly high
overhead, swung in slow circles and patterns by the brightly colored humans
below.

But none of this really matters if the much-beloved songs
and story are not delivered year-in, year-out across the globe with the same degree
of freshness, excellence, and star-power as the original Tony winning
production of almost twenty years ago.Fortunately, the current touring production is packed full of stunning
voices and talented actors.First and
foremost is Buyi Zama with her trumpet-pitched vocals as Rafiki. She is able not only to provide clarion calls beckoning
together the entire animal kingdom but also to sing with haunting, mesmerizing,
and soul-touching notes in songs like “Shadowland” and “He Lives in You
(Reprise).”(Ms. Zama, by the way, has
performed the part on five continents.)

Coming in a close second is the deliciously sinister Scar, jealous
and ambitious brother to the king.Mark
Campbell completely fulfills the Disney-required model as the story’s necessary
evil force to be finally conquered in a pitched hand-to-hand battle by the
handsome prince.At first, he is
humorous in a sleazy, slithering way; but as the plot thickens, he transforms
to just the kind of villain audiences love to hate but cannot get enough
of.

Equally impressive are the steady demeanor and deep voice of
the father and king, Mufasa (Gerald Ramsey) and the multi-pitched squawks and
neck stretches and flops of his funny horn-billed advisor, Zazu (Drew
Hirshfield).With cartoon-worthy voices
and animation-like moves and antics, Timon the meerkat (Nick Cordileone) and
Pumbaa the warthog (Ben Liptiz, veteran of over 5000 performances in this role)
are a comic duo that are visually a hoot and a holler and that help deliver one
of the night’s most-known and most-beloved numbers, “Hakuna Matata.”Mr. Liptiz is particularly memorable as he
sings and acts with wonderful heart and humor in a voice that totally fits his
smelly, bony warthog body with its oversized, smiling head.And not to be over-looked in this menagerie
of lovable African misfits are the shrieking, cackling, and full-on-guffawing
hyenas Shenzi (Tiffany Denise Hobbs), Banzai (Keith Bennett), and Ed (Robbie
Swift) who may at the core all be bad types but who are also laugh-producing
and welcomed parts of this multi-faceted cast.

BJ Covington and Meilani Cisneros are the high-voiced,
playful, and impish Young Simba and Young Nala (alternating the roles with
Jordan Williams and Savannah Fleisher).The two are part of a large, bright color-drenched number with Zasu and
the entire ensemble, “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King,” in which bizarre and
delightful animal/bird-like characters right out of a Dr. Seuss book appear
with them.Nia Holloway is the older
Nala of Act 2 and brings both dignity and bravery worthy of a young princess as
well as a pleasing and impressive set of vocals.

But the real surprise of opening night was the stand-by
actor, Jalen Harris, who stepped in for the regular Dashuan Young as the
late-teen Simba of Act Two.While he fit
right in with the foolishness and friendly poking and joking of Timon and
Pumbaa, he was especially splendid when Simba seeks his familial roots and
heritage in “Endless Nights.”When he
sings, “I know that the night must end and that the clouds must clear,” this
Simba does not push or strain but just lets his crystal clear tones float with
reflective desperation as he searches for the confidence that finally comes when
he triumphs, “The sun will rise.”Kudos
to Mr. Harris for a substitution that played like a headline starring role.

Garth Fagan’s choreography is strikingly beautiful in the
lionesses’ hypnotic “Shadowland” and is wild, funny, and a little scary as the
hyena fill both aisles and stage in “The Madness of King Scar.”And like the opening of the show itself, the
panoramic beginning of the second act as directed by Julie Taymor is pure magic
with leaping animals, flying birds, and the choral mastery of the entire
ensemble in “One by One.”The changing
scenic touches of Richard Hudson (simplified somewhat from Broadway for the
touring company) and the shadows, silhouettes, and contrasting hues of Donald
Holder’s lighting round out a show that keeps the eyes constantly moving to
capture it all.

The one major fault of opening night was a sound issue that
caused a first-act interruption of nearly a half hour, making an evening
already long almost intolerably longer for many of the younger (and even older)
audience members. Hopefully, this was
truly a once-in-a-tour type of occurrence.

Fortunately, a slinking cheetah, twinkling fireflies,
scampering mouse shadow puppet, circling buzzards, graceful gazelle wheels, and
dozens of other inhabitants of the African plain helped everyone forget the
night’s one aberration.Looking at all
the exiting smiling faces and listening to the collective humming of the
various songs so engrained in most of us, I am fairly certain that the current The Lion King playing at SHN’s Orpheum
Theatre is almost, if not totally, as good as any version any of us might have
seen in the past two decades -- here or in Sydney, New York, Amsterdam, or
wherever.

Rating: 5 E

The Lion King
continues through December 31, 2016 at the SHN Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market Street, San
Francisco.Tickets are available at https://www.shnsf.com.